1981 Midas Coupe - Project Zippy.

[mrbounce]

5 years ago my lovely Mrs Bounce told me to "Go and get yourself a Project!" so, as I cut my teeth on Minis but couldn't weld, a plastic Mini seemed a good idea. I wanted a GTM Coupe or Rossa, but as they were generally out of my budget, this effectively left me with the choice of a Domino or Midas, and a Midas came up first. I found this little darling down in Eastleigh, Hampshire and snapped it up 20 minutes after viewing it. 









Now I have actually been doing a rebuild thread for some time on both the Mini & Midas forums, but there's no way that I am posting 20-odd pages of that here because it'll take me forever. However, if you'd like to read it all, have a look here: www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/topic/198796-project-zippy-mk1-1981-midas-project/ It's worth a read!

In the time I have had it, I have stripped it completely, built an engine, corrected numerous bodges and had "fun" with fibreglass. I have also painted it after numerous aborted attempts (professional sprayers, it's probably best you don't look at that bit...) as the price of a professional job is not something that I can run to. I can genuinely say that everything on this car (with the exception of the engine machining and gearbox refresh) has been done by me - which is why it's taken so long!! A chequebook rebuild it is not! I have no mechanical experience other than basic maintenance, changing head-gaskets and gearbox changes on classic Minis. I have learned rather a lot (including a bit of welding!) so I will now leave you with some pics from over the years plus the latest up-to-date post.

[mrbounce]

Well I haven't updated this for a bit because of three factors: 1) Time (I haven't had much); 2) Weddings (we've been invited to SEVEN this year) and 3) Heat. Anything over about 22 degrees and the Manroom turns into an oven. I think I accidentally gave myself heatstroke the other weekend as a result...

Anyway, Mrs Bounce gave up half an hour of her time by wielding a screwdriver, thus allowing me to fix the front to rear brake line with new P clips. The old factory fitted clips really were (for want of a better word) atrocious, so there was no way I was going to re-use them. I still need to do the fuel line, but I am sure I can grab an assistant from somewhere.

This morning I had a couple of hours so I did some little jobs (which of course take a bit of time). I resprayed the areas of the bulkhead which had been affected by overspray, as well as removing the brake valve, master cylinder & bracket as they too had been affected by the dreaded "orange fleck". I masked these and gave them a fresh coat of satin black.Whilst this was drying I popped in the bolts for the top of the front shock mounts. It's a really small job, but something that makes me feel good - another small bit is on the car. Finally I have started work on fabricating a small bracket to allow a more standard looking battery clamp. The previous one was bolted to the bulkhead "buttress" and looked dreadful. More to follow.

Bulkhead looking tidier.



Upper shock mount bolts finally in



New cap-head bolts on fuel line side awaiting new P clips underneath



Not-so-black bits now black again!



Bracketing under construction

[steveg]

I think it was your car I spotted on the mini Forums a while back I don't think you had finished painting it then though.
I've got the remains of a Scamp I will get on with again at some point.

One thing I can't quite make out from the picture is what rear suspension you car has on it. Has it got Metro rear arms and a special rear subframe ?

[mrbounce]

It's got a bespoke rear beam axle, Mini radius arms and the coilover shocks had to be made specially. Luckily Dave at Dampertech has made some before so has the patterns.

[madwelshman]

There's something really cool about these and I've fancied one for years.
But, as per normal, other projects and general lack of time has prevented me from having one myself.
Great project, BOOKMARKED.

[mrbounce]

Some more progress has been made - there's been a small step back but that's hopefully sorted.

When I chucked the pedalbox in, I of course didn't check where the pedals were sitting. Due to the spring, they were sitting somewhere up near the dash shelf. And because of the design of the bulkhead, I couldn't get them back down without removing them. So I did just that, removing the homemade captive bolt plate, re-positioning the pedals, before holding them in place with something heavy (in this case my bowling ball in its bag - and even that struggled). I nipped up the nuts on the captive bolts and they sit where they should now.

The next issue was the master cylinder bracket. This was the original item on the car, which ran a single-line master cylinder. The main seal is significantly larger on the dual-line master cylinder (9mm difference in diameter!), so it won't fit properly in the bracket. The pedalbox is not an issue because the seal tapers - at least that's what I am hoping... So first thing was to cut a bigger hole in the bracket - no problem I thought - I have hole saws in my set of drills. The only trouble was, this was a cheap set of drill bits (it was a present), and all the hole saw did was make a small mark, get very blunt and cause the wood underneath the bracket to smoke wildly. However, I am nothing if not resourceful. Using the hole saw mark, I cut several slots in the metalwork, bent them out with pliers and then cut them off with the Dremel before giving the whole thing a tickle with the grinder and tidying up with the grinding stone. Granted it's not particularly professional, but now there's lots of clearance and nothing catches. Just needs a coat of paint and all should be fine.

The other day Shaun came over and despite him having a horrible week at work, I put him to work holding the screwdriver whilst I sorted the P clips underneath holding the fuel line. It still needs a couple of more accessible clips in the engine bay doing (and holes drilling for them!) but the awkward bit is done. Whilst I was underneath, I also sorted the remaining heatshield for the exhaust. Again, it's not perfect, but the only person seeing this will hopefully be the MOT tester, and the majority of it will be hidden behind a subframe, a gear selector and an exhaust so I am not too bothered about how it looks - it's for stopping the bulkhead catching fire, not looking good. This of course left me the wonderful task of the steering rack. Anyone who's done one on a Mini will know that they're utter bar stewards when the subframe is on, so I was glad to put it on now, without that large lump of metal being there. It's still awkward when you're doing it on your own, but a carefully placed piece of wood allowed me to pop the U-bolts through (no I didn't forget the little plastic anti-friction strips). I nipped up the bolts to hold it there, although it does need a small amount of adjustment which can wait until next time. Finally, I popped the freshly repainted brake valve back on the bulkhead. This took significantly longer than expected due to the inaccessibility of the nut, but some careful use of a small socket and believe it or not, some cable ties sorted the situation. More soon!

Pedals now where they should be.



Hole saw a bit rubbish? No problem - use a bit of back-street engineering!



A tickle with the grinder and it looks acceptable. It won't be seen anyway...



Fuel line now held in place - cheers Shaun!



Heatshield now fitted up to the selector area



Rack now loosely in place.



And brake valve fitted to the bulkhead.

[VWPowered]

i love these, gonna be such a cool car when finished

[luckygti]

Just skimmed through your thread on the Mini forum, wow, that's been a lot of work. Love the Midas, although it's a Mk3 Coupe I really want, but really need to put my wife's Mini back together first. One of these came down to the East Coast Retros meet a few months ago (I'll try and find the pictures), we meet every month down at Shotley Gate at the Shipwreck pub by the marina. Give me a shout if you fancy coming down?

[luckygti]

Knew I had them somewhere! Was a very nicely presented car too.

[mrbounce]

If I'm not working on the Midas that sounds like it could be an idea. If I'm not on holiday of course!

And a tow-bar on a Decathlon?! What the hell??!!! 

[luckygti]

Next one is this Friday! And the tow bar? Yeah I thought the same. Most of all I couldn't believe how tiny it was!

[mrbounce]

I don't like Mini braking systems. Mainly because over the years they've been messed about with BL / Austin Rover / whatever they were called that week penny-pinching numptiness. The plan was, as my single-line Cooper S Master Cylinder was kippered, to convert to a dual-line system using a yellow-tag MC and limiter valve on the bulkhead as I also wasn't keen on using the rear valve (VERY rusty). To date I have acquired brand new brake lines all round, an FAM7821 valve (Secondhand) and have rebuilt the s/h yellow tag MC. All new front to rear brake line is fitted. Excellent I thought - I will connect everything up.



Problem 1: The thread to the rear brakes on the valve is knackered. Tightens up so far and then spins on itself. And as it's a blind hole I can't re-cut the thread. New valve then - that's £87 I don't have.



Problem 2: My yellow tag MC and brand new clutch MC do not fit together on the same base plate. There's precious little clearance between them, but add a couple of pipes and they simply don't fit. I am either doing something drastically wrong or fitting a yellow tag is simply out of the question. To put it back to the way it was, a new Cooper S single line MC is £72 I don't have, plus I would need the regulator valve at the back (another £73 - and it's out of stock).


I have closed the garage door and walked away before I pick up something dangerous like a blow torch and some petrol.



This is junk...







...and these two bar stewards don't fit together.

[luckygti]

Know exactly where you're coming from mate, I've just done the same on the Escort (shut the garage door and walk away (I would have set fire to it if I'd been able to find my lighter!!)

[luckygti]

Oh, sorry, I have no advice! People always say, Oh Mini's they're soooo easy to work on! My ! Stripping ours down was bad enough, I'm dreading putting it back together

[mattiwagon]

Reading your build thread frim the start on the linked forum, excellent work dude keep at it, lovely little bit of kit😄

[steveg]

I'm going to use that style of master cylinder on my Scamp but I have got the clutch master cylinder with the metal reservoir on it.
One way round the clash of parts would be to fit banjo fittings on the brake master cylinder but you would need to make sure the face the O rings seal against are at right angles to the threads and had a suitable smooth surface. I've seen people do this when fitting braided aeroquip hoses.

When I plumbed my Mini brakes I removed the limiter and plumbed in the front brakes to the smaller bore of the master cylinder. The rear ones were then done from the larger one and I fitted a old style limiter valve that was made adjustable inside the car.

This is the Mini.



I also remembered that there are various different sizes of pipe fitting for the master cylinder.

[mrbounce]

Cheers guys! Replacement brake valve on the way and I am looking into a replacement clutch MC as mine is not the correct one apparently...

[glenanderson]

I was going to suggest banjo fittings for the M/C pipework too, if the alternative cylinders won't allow normal ones.

Keep at it; it's these challenges that make a man of you!

[steveg]

Aug 18, 2016 21:24:04 GMT mrbounce said:

Cheers guys! Replacement brake valve on the way and I am looking into a replacement clutch MC as mine is not the correct one apparently...

Looking at my picture again I did wonder as the offset of the reservoir looked more like the brake one. I might fit the brake master cylinder with the reservoir towards the front on the Scamp. It will make running the pipes easier and it won't be wedged right up against the bulkhead.

[mrbounce]

Well, it seems that things are looking up again. Thanks everyone for your suggestions and offers of help. It seems that the original "tin can" clutch MCs are the ones to go for, so have a s/hand one coming which will be reconditioned before fitting (trial fitted first of course!).



In the meantime, the brake valve Ian had in his shed (cheers matey!) has been received, and tried out. No issues with the thread on this bad boy - it tightened up a like a dream. However, it did look a bit... how do I best put this... used. So out came my favourite tool - the angle grinder with the wire brush attachment. It made short work of the minor surface rust and odd paint, and I wiped it down before plugging up the holes. I've given it a coat or two of primer before it'll get the satin black tomorrow.



I also finished tidying up the "T-bar" I made to hold in the spare wheel and gave that a coat of primer too. More to follow.



Brake valve looking pretty again.







T-bar primed.